Hi all! I've been giving English conversation lessons to a theology professor for about a year now. He's getting on in the years - a couple years from retirement - and his primary goal has been just to get his spoken English going a little

I agree with those who say there could be several definitions. Considering letters. Vowels: A E I O U (so W is not included here) Considering sounds. Vowel sounds: all those in the IPA vowel chart. (so W is not included here either.

As per phonetics theory, I've been told one should use the indefinite article "a" before words beginning with a consonant and "an" before words beginning with a vowel or a diphthong. And the sound "y" ( or / j /

The maximum onsets principle isn't universally accepted. See http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/syllabif.htm which ... /n/ goes in the third syllable because of stress.) Jonathan Who is Wells? Professor of phonetics at University College

Hi Yo, A vowel sound is determined, as suzi rightly pointed out, not by its look, but by its sound. Two of the most confusing semi/half consonents in Engish are those such as /ju:/ in "Europe and /w/ in "one". The looks of these are very

: So how does the rule on "u" and "a" or "an" work (or all the vowels for that matter)? Why is it a university, but an umbilical cord? Because of the pronunciation, not the spelling. University is pronounced

AUE Apocrypha Update... We've long sought a solid attribution of "ghoti = fish" to George Bernard Shaw: . Various cites have turned up from 1938 onwards, though nothing ties "ghoti" to Shaw until 1961 (more than a decade

Of course learning a language is difficult. It takes time, effort, energy, etc. Maybe you mean "difficult" in relation to other languages. If that's what you mean, then I would say the answer is "no". The first time I came

(I am posting these Intros for Donna Richoux while she is away. Maria.) Last Revised 2003-02-27 (27 Feb 2003) ~~ Mini-FAQ on Spelling ~~ There are longer answers, with more examples, for most of these items in the full AUE FAQ (see end). Many of